Charles Ellicott Commentary Matthew 26:42

"Again a second time he went away, and prayed, saying, My Father, if this cannot pass away, except I drink it, thy will be done." — Matthew 26:42 (ASV)

If this cup may not pass away from me — A slight change of tone is perceptible in this prayer compared to the first. Humanly speaking, it is as though the conviction that the cup could not pass from Him had settled more fully in His mind, and He was learning to accept it.

He finds the answer to His first prayer not in the removal of the bitter agony that preyed on His spirit, but in its continuation. This is likely the stage of the trial where we should place the sweat like great drops of blood and the vision of the angel from Luke 22:43-44.